Even if it was before their time, most Louisvillians have heard
about how we once dressed up on weekends and headed for Fourth Street’s
first-run movie houses; the Rialto, the Strand, and Loew’s.Those were the days when just walking along Fourth on a Saturday
afternoon, you were almost certain to meet at least one friend or
acquaintance.“Downtown,”
however, held many other attractions as well.

After school, some college freshmen not yet comfortable in the
campus hangouts,liked to
spend an afternoon at Taylor Drugs between Broadway and Chestnut, laughing
and flirting over fountain drinks or coffee.Once they had worn out their welcome at Taylor’s, some would drift
down a few doors to Variety Records.There they could squeeze into glass booths to listen to the latest
Hit Parade selections, carefully handling the large brittle records.

At York, just a block south of Broadway,the white art deco building ofthe Fourth Avenue Skating Rink gleamed and a neon couple danced on
skates above the double doors.When the doors opened, the sound of organ music pumping a boogie
beat flowed out.

Memorial Auditorium at Fourth and Kentucky was the place to enjoy
live theater.In 1951-52 you
could have seen productions as diverse as The Ballet Russe de Monte
Carlo, featuring the great Alexandra Danilova; or Mae West in
Diamond Lil; or a road company of Streetcar Named Desire.

Fourth Street had cocktail lounges like Gordon’s with its glowing
neon martini sign and modern interior, including wall sconces for romantic
lighting.Couples and ladies
sat at tables, since state law then prohibited females at the bar.Sometimes there was a tuxedoed piano player in the dining room, or
a disc jockey from WKYW doing a “remote.”He played jazz records and made idle chatter in a silky, intimate
baritone.If you were listening at home, he made you wish you were
there.Another popular lounge
a few doors south was Baron’s, where the upstairsrocked every Sunday afternoon with jam sessions by local musicians.

The best Fourth Street party of the year was Derby Eve when the
street was full of happy revelers, and the Brown Hotel hosted its
open-to-the-public hospitality suite inwhat was then called The South Room.Derby visitors and locals mingled there among the overstuffed
chairs and couches, sharing the pre-race excitement.Sunburned from a day at the track, Louisville’s“café society” socialized with crisp-uniformed soldiers from Fort
Knox.In jackets
and ties, U of L students met
high-stakes Derby visitors with flashy rings. Women wore sophisticated
slim sheaths, three-inch heels and good jewelry, girls wore tiny-waistedcrinolines and Capezios.The air crackled with the pursuit of flirtations, betting tips,
racing lore, and more flirtations.Many dates were made to meet the next day at the track.Some were even kept.

Two blocks north, another hotel, The Seelbach, had a corner coffee
shop on the ground floor with window walls looking onto Fourth and Walnut
Streets.Open all night, it
was a well-known after-partying spot for coffee, a late snack or early
breakfast.Of course, the
coffee shop was also one of theplaces for a lunch break from a day of shopping at Stewart’s or
Selman’s.One always made
sure to get a window table to watch the shoppers hurrying by.

At the Seelbach also, the basement Rathskellar was a popular place
for dancing to a live band.Abusy singles spot (before we called them that)it had medieval decor.Many a romance blossomed among the suits of armor, heraldic
emblems, and gothic arches of the Rathskeller.

There were other movie houses, restaurants and bars branched
out along the intersecting and parallel streets toFourth Avenue.The
Scoop movie house, first opened as a newsreel theater, later became an
“art house” andintroduced a
generation of Louisvillians to foreign and art films like Alex Guiness’
Kind Hearts and Coronets, The
Red Shoes, and Tales of Hoffman.For too brief a time, the National Theater presented onstage
headliners such as Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan and Blackstone, the
Magician.Over on Second
Street, the Madrid Ballroom had a mirrored ball over its dance floor, long
before disco.

But Fourth Avenue was the center of it all and we didn’t just think
of it as where we worked or shopped or saw a movie.To many of us of a certain age, itwas where we went to spread our new grown-up wings, to define
ourselves, to chase our dreams.